The Ritual: A Dark College Romance

Ryat binds Blakely so she is bent over a bathroom counter and facing a mirror that allows her to see his actions behind her. He uses a vibrating sex toy on Blakely while they have anal sex, something they both find pleasurable.

Ryat’s father calls; he knows about the impromptu trip. He warns Ryat about the initiation ritual for those who marry Lords. Ryat is unconcerned, certain that Blakely can “handle it” even though the ritual for Ryat’s wife will be more intense than that for Matt’s wife, as Ryat holds a higher position in the organization. Ryat’s father cautions against marrying in haste, but Ryat is determined.

Shortly after their return from vacation, Blakely and Ryat marry in a civil service; she is surprised that she does not “feel different” afterward. Though their wedding was quick and simple, she dresses ornately for the Lords’ ritual. Gunner enters to summon Ryat.

Blakely catches up to Ryat as he begins a speech addressing the Lords. She is nervous when he summons her to stand in front of the collected group and shocked when he announces that they have married.

Ryat pulls Blakely into his embrace, pleased that marriage (something he always assumed would be arranged and merely for political gain) is emotionally satisfying. His first kiss with Blakely was at their wedding, but he kisses her again in front of the collected Lords, finding kissing “more intimate” than their sexual encounters. He delights in Matt’s clear jealousy and decides that he will make Blakely fall in love with him to earn more of her “pure admiration.”

Later, Matt grabs Blakely outside Ryat’s bedroom, not releasing her as he tells her that Ryat paid Phil to marry Blakely and that Ryat has been blocking her calls and texts. Blakely is upset but recognizes that Ryat likely is tracking her via her cell phone. She is far more upset to learn that both Matt and Ryat offered money to marry her. She shouts at Matt to leave and then plans to take her “one chance and one chance only to get away” (319).

Ryat realizes he hasn’t seen Blakely in a while; Gunner and Sarah confirm that they have not seen her either and that Blakely has ignored Sarah’s texts. Ryat dislikes the smug look Matt is shooting him but ignores this when his phone rings with a call from a blocked number. Blakely, calling from an unknown location, is furious that Ryat paid money to marry her. He tells her to return, but she refuses, claiming he “can’t find what [he] can’t track” (323). She hangs up, leaving Ryat determined to locate her.

Two days after Blakely’s disappearance, Ryat has no further clues to her whereabouts despite joining forces with his father and Phil. The only other person they trust with the details of the investigation is Gunner, as they fear that someone seeking to use Blakely against Ryat or Phil might harm her.

At the dive bar where she now works, Blakely recalls her nervousness about the intimacy of kissing Ryat during their wedding ceremony only to be distracted by a request from a customer. She is grateful for Janett, the bar owner who recognized her distress and gave her a job without asking for official identification. Three weeks after she fled the Lords, Blakely is shocked that she has not seen her own disappearance on the news. As customers flirt with her, she thinks back to Ryat carrying her over the threshold after their wedding, something she found surprisingly romantic.

After the bar closes, Blakely finishes cleaning up on her own. She is alarmed to find the customer who flirted with her waiting outside the bar. He knows her identity and attacks her, citing his history with Ryat. Suddenly, Ryat appears behind the attacker. He cuts the man’s throat, killing him.

Ryat looks down at Blakely, admiring her beauty and thinking angry and possessive thoughts. She tries to run, but he, Gunner, and Prickett restrain her. He touches her face with a knife, not cutting her but pleased with the combative relationship between them. He forces pills into her mouth; the drugs render her unconscious, and Ryat carries her away from the bar.

Blakely wakes in Ryat’s room at the house of Lords. Ryat appears in the doorway, and Blakely insists she wants a divorce. He ignores this but promises not to hurt her before making suggestive comments about how she likes it when he “punishes” her sexually. He takes her to a meeting room in the basement, where her father waits. Phil clarifies that though Ryat offered money to marry Blakely, Phil did not accept the money. Phil admits that he was the one who ordered Ryat to take Blakely as his “chosen” but that Ryat chose the marriage himself. Phil asserts that Blakely should be “grateful” to be married to Ryat instead of facing a future with Matt.

Phil explains that wives of Lords are known as Ladies and that their rank in the organization parallels their husbands’ ranks. Blakely will receive information about her initiation via text. When she refuses to follow these instructions, Ryat clarifies that the initiation is “kill or get killed” (345), horrifying Blakely. She insists that she doesn’t want to be with Ryat anymore, but he dismisses this, saying it doesn’t matter to the events ahead.

Though Blakely is refusing to speak to him, Ryat is relieved that she finally will know the truth of his life in the Lords. He drives to his cabin, which he announces is their home now; while Blakely was gone, he had her belongings removed from her apartment. Ryat takes her to the shower. While he washes away the blood from the attacker he killed, Blakely cries. She apologizes for running away, and Ryat’s anger fades. He promises to protect her. They cuddle in bed and Ryat realizes that his fear over her disappearance wasn’t merely possessiveness; he missed her.

After Blakely wakes up, Ryat expresses frustration that Blakely fled after speaking with Matt rather than talking to Ryat first. However, he agrees with her retort that he gave her no reason to trust him. She is shocked by this admission. He explains that though he initially saw seducing Blakely as a game, he has developed feelings for her. He regrets his developing love for her, feeling it is making him “soft.” He therefore gives her a folder with signed divorce papers and leaves.

Blakely burns the papers, no longer wanting them. She puts her wedding ring back on, noting the inscription “to death do us part” on the inside (357). Just then, Cindy enters, surprised to find Blakely. She claims that she has been having a relationship with Ryat for the duration of Blakely’s absence, but Blakely doesn’t believe her. The two women fight.

Ryat returns that evening, annoyed that Blakely is still there. Blakely taunts him with the possibility that she had sex with other men during their time apart, making Ryat jealous. She reveals that she has tied Cindy up. Blakely repeats Cindy’s claim that they were having an affair, pleased when Ryat knocks Cindy unconscious for insulting Blakely. She claims that Matt was mostly correct in his claims, mentally challenging Ryat to “bring it.”

Ryat feels his “blood boiling” in rage as Blakely tauntingly proposes an open marriage. Blakely laughs when this successfully goads him into having rough sex with her, during which they both reassert that Blakely “belongs” to Ryat. The doorbell rings, interrupting their ongoing argument.

Blakely finds her father and Ryat’s father, Abbot Archer, in the living room. Abbot praises her choice to throw the papers in the fire, calling them her “first test of initiation” (368). Blakely realizes Ryat was watching her via cameras and confronts him about these continued manipulations, leading Abbot to praise her “fire.” She is frustrated that Ryat plans to continue keeping the Lords’ secrets, even from her. Phil and Ryat confer privately, leaving Blakely with Abbot, who confesses to never having liked Cindy. This causes Blakely to realize that Cindy is missing.

Ryat felt pride watching Blakely burn the divorce papers and regrets the loyalty to the Lords that forced him to offer them in the first place. Now, Blakely asks him to prove he trusts her by telling her what is going on with his life in the Lords. Ryat fears she will “see something [she doesn’t] like” (378). He agrees to share his secrets on the condition that if he feels she “can’t handle it” he “get[s] to pull [her] back” (379). She reluctantly agrees.

He takes her to a secret bunker. Cindy is bound to a chair inside. He reveals that Cindy came to the cabin to kill Blakely. They threaten Cindy with a vial of an unknown substance that Cindy intended to use on Blakely. Cindy reports that Matt gave her the location of the cabin, which he learned from following Blakely. Blakely worries that Matt witnessed her sexual encounter with Ryat in the woods during their weekend at the cabin, and Cindy admits she gave Matt her cell phone, which he used to take pictures of Blakely in the woods having sex with Ryat.

Cindy came to the cabin today with the intent of sedating and abducting Blakely on Matt’s behalf. Ryat strangles Cindy to death, and Blakely is alarmed to realize how alluring she finds the knowledge that Ryat would kill for her. Ryat tells Blakely to leave, but she refuses, claiming she will no longer take orders from him that keep her from the dark work of the Lords. They have sex in the bunker with Cindy’s body nearby. Ryat dismisses Blakely’s reminder that she is no longer protected by her birth control pills, which she didn’t have with her when she ran away. 

Ryat fantasizes about seeing Blakely pregnant. He worries about necessary security precautions now that Matt knows where they live. Blakely insists on helping him dispose of Cindy’s body, which Ryat considers another test. He takes her to the cathedral, where, in the graveyard, he digs a grave for Cindy.

Ryat explains that the graveyard houses Lords, Ladies, and chosen ones who are killed by a member of the Lords. Ryat has buried seven bodies there. When Ryat finishes burying Cindy, he takes Blakely through a back door to the cathedral. Gunner is there; Ryat directs Blakely to go with him. Despite her trepidation, Blakely agrees.

She is anxious when she finds the main hall of the cathedral filled with Lords. A struggling woman is dragged to a chair in front of the baptism pool. She is bound and her hood removed, revealing Ashley, Matt’s girlfriend. Ryat, unmasked unlike the other Lords, approaches Ashley with a knife. When he removed the duct tape covering her mouth, she insists that Matt loves her and will get revenge for any harm done to her. Ryat laughingly dismisses this and claims they are going to “play a game” where he will cut Ashely every time she refuses to answer one of his questions or lies in response (399). Ashley admits she knew of Matt and Blakely’s relationship when she started her relationship with Matt, which makes Blakely eager to hear what else she will confess.

Ryat cuts Ashley for various lies as she admits that she knew where Blakely went during her absence; Matt instructed Ashley to follow her. Ashley’s phone reveals that she conspired with Matt and Cindy to sedate and kidnap Blakely and aided in sending Blakely’s attacker from the bar. Ryat pushes her into the baptism pool, where she drowns.

Blakely is unperturbed by Ryat’s torture of Ashley but shaken that “everything has been a lie” (407); she feels that the only choice that was not orchestrated for her was choosing not to sign the divorce papers Ryat gave her. She feels grateful that they are together despite the circumstances that brought them to their marriage. She blankly lets Ryat lead her to his car, wondering “if any of it matter[s] anymore” when the life-and-death stakes of the Lords are “a game” (408).